Philip Cezar: A Great Thinking Player

If you happen to be alive during the glorious days of the fabled Crispa Redmanizers in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), then you've probably heard the monikers, "The Tapal King" or "The Scholar". That moniker, of course, belongs to Philip Cezar who was selected by the Redmanizers in the 1975 PBA Draft after Crispa got elevated into the professional league. 

Cezar, a product of the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers, considered by many as one of the best and most intelligent power forwards that the PBA has seen in its existence as evidenced by one of the monikers that were given to him. He also owned the rare distinction as one of the few PBA players to win not one but TWO Grand Slams with the Redmanizers: the first one happened in 1976 while the second one took place in 1983. But what made him one of the best power forwards in Philippine basketball was that he was assigned to guard against taller imports of the opposing teams and that was something that he figured it out by using his long arms on defense- something that people referred to at the time as Cezar's "umbrella-like" defense. 

On the offensive end, the 1980 Most Valuable Player was never an easy puzzle to solve as even though he was listed as a power forward who stood at six-foot-three, he also played like the team's second point guard on the floor as he can set plays and make those timely passes to open teammates. In other words, the great Philip Cezar was an all-around big man and that's something that we rarely see in the PBA today. 

And while he won multiple championships, an MVP award and also got included in the PBA Mythical First Team, seven times, on top of being a four-time member of the PBA Defensive Team, and a member of the national team during the 70s, he also enjoyed success in his short but decorated coaching career.

Among the successes that Philip Cezar achieved in his coaching career is leading the San Juan Knights to a national championship in the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) during the 2000 season in a best-of-seven championship series against the Negros Slashers where a debris-throwing incident forced the league to halt Game Five and award the win to the Knights. The Knights went on to win the championship in their home court the next game. While San Juan won the MBA championship during the first phase of the 2001 season, Philip Cezar was no longer at the helm as he was then serving as the Vice Mayor of San Juan before getting appointed as acting Mayor of the municipality that said year. While his political career was short-lived, he returned to being a coach and even won a championship in the Universities and Colleges Athletic Association while coaching the Philippine School of Business Administration (PSBA) Jaguars during the 2005 season.

Philip Cezar also served as the head coach of the Manila Stars in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) before stepping down after the 2017-2018 season without winning a championship despite having a team that included Roger Yap, Joseph Yeo, Reil Cervantes, Larry Rodriquez, and Jerwin Gaco. 

Despite missing out on a championship during his coaching stint in the MPBL, Philip Cezar is arguably one of the greatest players in the history of Philippine basketball and if there's something that he did that separated him from the rest of the field, he actually beat Ramon Fernandez in one-on-one competition in 1979. While many players at that time could play against El Presidente, only a few gifted ones can beat Fernandez on a one-on-one basis and Philip Cezar is among those gifted ones. And yes, Cezar proved that thinking also helps in the game of basketball which was one of the reasons why many hailed him as The Scholar. 

Photo is from The Manila Times